Reviews and Other Stuff

Murad Oil-Control Mattifier SPF 15 Review

September 23, 2016 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Howdy Friends! In my quest for finding a great mattifying product in a sea of varying mattifiers out there, be it makeup or skin care, I stumbled into this Murad Oil-Control Mattifier with Spf 15. Actually, I’ve been so curious about this particular mattifying moisturizer because I’m a huge fan of Murad skincare, especially the Murad Rapid Age Spot and Pigment Lightening Serum and the Murad Essential-C Cleanser. Murad products are one of those reliable skincare products that actually work, and the ones I usually rely on whenever I have skincare issues.

I have an oily and acne-prone skin which I’ve been trying to manage with some mattifying makeup foundations and oil-control blotting sheets, but lately, I’ve been experimenting on this Murad Oil-Control Mattifier Spf 15 to see if this moisturizer is going to help me even more in managing my skin. I don’t think I have the oiliest skin in the world, but it’s oily enough to bug me.

A lot of people seem to swear by this Murad Oil-Control Mattifier and I tested it against my normal oily-prone skin and also against my regular daily moisturizer for several days to see if this product actually works or would actually work better than the products I’m currently using in controlling oil.

I used the Neutrogena Shine-Control Blotting Sheets for this experiment and swiped them once on the oiliest part of my face which is the forehead down to my nose. As a baseline to show my skin’s oiliness, I swiped the oil-control blotting sheet on my forehead and nose right after washing my face, and as you can see below, there’s almost no oil blotted. Just so you know, this Murad Oil-Control Mattifier is meant to give your skin that mattifying effect for 8 hours.

Here’s what I did and what I found:

Day 1: Washed face and blotted with an oil-control sheet as a baseline for oiliness. No moisturizer or anything applied on the face thereafter. 7 hours later, I swiped the oil-control blotting sheet on my face.

Day 2: Washed face and applied my regular moisturizer on the face. 7 hours later, I swiped the oil-control sheet on my forehead and nose.

Day 3: Washed face and applied the Murad Oil-Control Mattifier on the face. 7 hours later, I swiped the oil-control blotting sheet on the oiliest part of my face.

As you can see above, this product works, but it didn’t completely obliterate the oil from my face. It just minimized or controlled it even after almost reaching 8 hours. What I noticed is that this particular moisturizer works best at the beginning of the application but as the 8th-hour approaches, my face looks quite oily already. If you have moderate oiliness on the face like me, I suggest that you may still need the help of mattifying powders or foundations plus oil-control blotting sheets to combat the oiliness along with this Murad Oil-Control Mattifier as a moisturizer. Until someone invents a cement face powder for my oily face, lol, I’ll be using and recommending this as a good oil-control product.

Have you tried this already? What was your experience?

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YSL Rouge Volupte Shine Oil-In-Stick Review (Part II)

September 22, 2016 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hello World! It’s officially Fall! time to get cozy because cold weather is coming 🙂 but no matter what the weather is going to be, let’s not all forget to put on some gorgeous lipsticks. Cold times call for nicely flushed lips, and who says you can’t rock a bold lip color on the fall? after all, we never really want this summer to be over, do we? course not!

Remember that “Sample of the Week” review that I did a couple of weeks ago? That said review was about a sample of YSL Rouge Volupte Shine Oil-In-Stick Lipsticks and you can read it HERE. In that said review, I rave about those lipsticks and mentioned that I was planning to purchase them in larger sizes with a few colors I was eyeing in mind.

Well, here’s part 2 of that said review, or should I say, a continuation of my love for YSL Lipsticks.

These YSL Rouge Volupte Shine Oil-In-Sticks are definitely a must-have. They’re light to medium coverage lipsticks wherein you may only need one (doubt it, LOL) and I’m pretty sure you’ll love it. These lipsticks are one of the most beautiful lipsticks I’ve ever tried, hands down. I love the packaging, love the hydrating formulation, the delicious scent, and most of all, I am in love with their pigmentation. There’s an excitement every time you apply one of these on your lips. I don’t know what it is, but they just make your lips look luscious and gorgeous.

Another best part of these lipsticks are the fact that there’s enough or even a lot of product in their tubes, so I always feel like I got my money’s worth. The shades that I purchased are extremely different from each other and I just love them all. I do think that most of the shades in this line are almost all on the bright side, like lots of neons, corals, pinks and nudes. They’re definitely more of a summertime lipstick, but don’t we all yearn for some color in the gloomy days? I do.

N 43 Rose Rive Gauche – Smoky Rose. For my NC30 skin, this shade appears more like a nude coral-peach on me.
N 45 Rouge Tuxedo – Cherry Red. Reviewed HERE
N 46 Orange Perfecto – Poppy Coral. Such a perfect, gorgeous and fresh orange-coral shade that is very versatile specially for medium skin tones because it’s not too neon-like.
N 48 Smoking Plum – Juicy Plum. My most favorite shade of all the YSL Rouge Volupte Shine Oil-In-Sticks because this shade complements my skin tone very well and my fairly pigmented lips. It has mauve hues that works really well on my lips, making it a “my lips but better” kinda vibe. Ya know the feeling…

Some people compared these lipsticks to Chanel Rouge Coco Stylo (reviewed HERE) in terms of coverage and formulation. Personally, I think these are way better in the sense that these lipsticks have a staining power compared to Chanel Stylo which almost doesn’t leave a trace, at least not on me. Though they both have extremely hydrating formulas, they differ quite slightly when it comes to coverage. These lipsticks may have slightly less coverage than Chanel Rouge Coco Stylo but you almost can’t tell the difference. The nice thing about the Rouge Coco Stylos are the fact that they don’t have any scent, which may be a better option for those who dislikes scents or tastes in their lipsticks.

If you’re looking for these lipsticks in the store, be aware that they’re kinda tricky to find. Of course they’re all in the YSL beauty aisle, LOL obviously, but sometimes they get mixed up with the YSL Rouge Volupte Shines and the Rouge Voluptes. There’s a difference between the two, or three, yeah, read it HERE. Sephora usually mixes them together with the Volupte Shines, while YSL’s website really made a distinction of each line.

Anyways, hope you like this review, Happy Autumn! It’s raking time!

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Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet Vs Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua

April 6, 2016 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Bonjour! Today, let’s talk about two of my holiest grail foundations. I bet they’re everyone’s favorite foundations too. They’re both made by Chanel. The Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet (now known as Ultra Le Teint Velvet) and the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua. Such complicated names, but with such amazing quality. They’re both “lighter versions” of Chanel’s two best-selling makeup foundation and both have SPF 15.

What’s the difference between the two? In some sense, they’re both really similar, even the ingredients are similar, but they’re made for different purposes.

Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet (Ultra Le Teint Velvet) – This gives a soft velvety matte finish, that is very lightweight and oil-free. Supposed to be a “tint version” of Chanel’s long-wear fluid sunscreen foundation, the Perfection Lumiere. So expect this one to be also long-lasting like its predecessor. This one also gives full coverage, but not as full and thick as Chanel’s Perfection Lumiere. I consider this as my go-to foundation if I want to completely “change face”, ha! well, not completely, but good enough to make my face look blemish-free and anew. What I love about this is that you don’t need to put a lot on your face to get that full coverage. You don’t even need a special brush for this. Your fingertips will work just fine. Also, most matte foundations tend to make your face look flat, but this one doesn’t. It still gives your face definition while smoothing and covering the dark spots. A slight drawback is that you’re going be needing a lot of cotton balls or cotton pads to erase this product off your face. Even though it’s liquid and lightweight. It seems to be packed on pigments. When it comes to scent, this foundation has a slightly soapy scent compared to Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua. Overall, I think this is the best matte makeup foundation that will still make your face look natural, and they last around 12 hours on my face without looking oily. As someone with somewhat oily skin, this one is definitely heaven-sent.

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua – The lighter version of Chanel’s original and well-loved Vitalumiere. This is supposed to give a very light tint with a water-like texture. Although, I find that this formulation is very similar to Perfection Lumiere Velvet. They’re both very watery and have very similar scents. Perhaps this Vitalumiere Aqua has a little bit more of a floral scent. I prefer this foundation’s scent better than the one mentioned above. When it comes to coverage, at first I didn’t notice any difference. However, after a few hours, I noticed that my skin started to look oily compared to the one applied with Chanel’s Perfection Lumiere Velvet. For me, they last about 6 hours until I start to notice the oiliness. But I really like the look on my skin with this particular foundation. It kind of makes my skin look dewy or slightly luminous. So, if you’re going for that kind of look, try this foundation.

Overall, if you want a matte finish foundation without looking dull and flat, plus long-wearing and has exceptional oil-control, try the Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet. If you want a more natural, dewy, strobing kind of look, and has average to really good oil control, try Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua.